2023 Dr. Wes Curry Award Recipients Honored at ACEP Diversity Summit

The Dr. Wes Curry Award recognizes physician leaders’ outstanding contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.

Philadelphia (October 11, 2023) – At yesterday’s Executive Leadership Diversity Summit, ACEP and Vituity recognized five emergency medicine trailblazers with the Dr. Wes Curry Awards in Executive Leadership, Social Justice, and Service Excellence. These annual recognitions highlight exceptional innovation, collaboration, and culture building by emergency medicine leaders.

Vituity, a multispecialty physician-owned partnership serving nearly 9 million patients annually, has hosted the Executive Leadership Diversity Summit since 2012. Former Vituity CEO Wesley Curry, MD, cofounded the summit to provide networking opportunities and celebrate representation within the specialty. The summit currently takes place during American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP) annual Scientific Assembly.

Listed below are the 2023 recipients and the honors they received:

2023 Dr. Wes Curry Award in Executive Leadership Winners

Christopher Scott, MD, MBA — Senior Vice President at Envision Health and Chief Clinical Officer at Valesco Physician Services (an Envision/HCA joint venture). Dr. Scott has built a 16-year relationship with Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and established a pipeline that brings University of the West Indies emergency medicine residents to Florida hospitals for elective rotations.

Vernell Johnson III, MD — Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Operations at St. Joseph Health (part of CommonSpirit Health) in Texas. He previously served as CMO at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields, where he built a well-integrated emergency medicine network in the Chicago area. He is the creator of the long-running Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference.

2023 Dr. Wes Curry Award in Social Justice Winners

Alister Martin, MD, MPP — Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Kennedy School; CEO of A Healthier Democracy, a nonprofit healthcare organizing incubator; founder of Vot-ER, a nonpartisan organization that helps nonurgent ED patients register to vote; founder of Get Waivered, a program that equips EDs to provide medication therapy for opioid use disorder; and cofounder of GOTVax, which holds pop-up vaccine clinics in underserved communities.

Trevor Dixon, MD — Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; Director of Emergency Ultrasound at NYC Health + Hospitals Jacobi Medical Center; and CEO and founder of the Jamaicans Abroad Helping Jamaicans at Home (JAHJAH) Foundation, which is dedicated to improving health and education for underserved communities in Jamaica.

2023 Dr. Wes Curry Award in Service Excellence Winner

Riane Gay, MPA — Former Director of Corporate Development at ACEP; current Program Manager, Outpatient Medicine at Vituity; recognized for her contributions to the ACEP-Vituity DEI partnership over the past six years.

"As cofounder of the Executive Leadership Diversity Summit, I would like to express our sincere appreciation on behalf of the entire Vituity team to these remarkable healthcare heroes who have made invaluable contributions to the field of emergency medicine,” says Savoy Brummer, MD, Division Vice President. “These exceptional individuals embody the pinnacle of excellence in our specialty, demonstrating unwavering dedication to enhancing opportunity and elevating the quality of patient care. Their profound influence on patients and our profession will leave an enduring legacy for generations to follow."

Javay Walton, Vituity’s Vice President of DEI, also offered congratulations: "Witnessing the visionary work of our award recipients is truly inspiring. These individuals are actively paving the way for a future in which clinical leadership is more inclusive and equitable, benefiting both the healthcare leaders of tomorrow and the patients they serve."

About Vituity

For nearly 50 years, Vituity has been a catalyst for positive change in healthcare. As a physician-led and -owned multispecialty partnership with a nationwide footprint, 5,000 Vituity clinicians working across nine acute care specialties care for more than 8.7 million patients annually.

Vituity’s acute focus and compassionate care are the driving forces that place us at the heart of better care. Our clinicians and practice management leaders develop front-line solutions for healthcare challenges that improve quality and have a direct, positive impact on millions of lives nationwide.

Our services span the entire acute care continuum, integrating emergency medicine, hospital medicine, critical care, anesthesiology, acute psychiatry, neurology, acute care surgery, telehealth, post-acute care, and outpatient medicine. Partnering with hospitals, health systems, clinics, payers, employers, and state and local government, our footprint continues to rapidly expand. Learn more at vituity.com.

About ACEP

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is the national medical society representing emergency medicine. Through continuing education, research, public education, and advocacy, ACEP advances emergency care on behalf of its 40,000 emergency physician members, and the more than 150 million people they treat on an annual basis. For more information, visit acep.org and emergencyphysicians.org.

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